Soldiers face payout cuts after MoD court win

The Ministry of Defence won a legal battle today that could lead to a cut in compensation paid to two injured servicemen.

The Court of Appeal partly upheld a challenge by the Government to awards made to Light Dragoon Anthony Duncan and Royal Marine Matthew McWilliams.

The soldiers' awards will have to be reassessed using a more restrictive interpretation of the law which appears almost certain to result in a reduction in the amounts they receive.

It is likely to lead to renewed public anger, following criticism this summer when the MoD began the challenge that it was penny pinching at the expense of war veterans.

Lord Justice Carnwarth today defended the Government's position and said a tribunal wrongly applied two elements of the formula which calculated the soldiers' awards.

"Although some adverse publicity accompanied the beginning of this case, related to its timing linked to tragic events in Afghanistan, the secretary of state was entirely justified in bringing the appeal, at least from a legal point of view," he said.

Cpl Duncan was given £9,250, which was increased to £46,000, and Marine McWilliams was awarded £8,250, which rose to £28,750. The 27-year-old corporal was shot in Iraq in 2005 and after two years of rehabilitation fought in Afghanistan for six months from April. Marine McWilliams, 24, fractured his thigh in training in 2005.

Ministers, who have begun a review of the compensation system, made the challenge because of concern that the cases could set a precedent which would cost taxpayers millions of pounds in extra payments.

Today's case centred on the interpretation of tables identifying categories of injuries and their seriousness - such as simple and complex fractures - and how subsequent complications might alter the category. It found two legal interpretations used by the tribunal to increase the awards were wrong. A new tribunal will reassess the soldiers' awards.